Stream discharge in gaged watersheds at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, 1949 to present

Streamflow from selected small watersheds has been continuously monitored at the Andrews Forest beginning in November 1952 and the Lookout Creek Gauging Station has been maintained by the USGS since October, 1949. The objectives of this study include: (1) to evaluate long-term changes in hydrology associated with various management treatments, notably clearcut logging, selective logging, and burning; (2) to provide baseline data for affiliated precipitation and stream water chemistry and sediment transport studies; and (3) to characterize the hydrologic regime of old-growth forests at different elevations.
Streamflow records from small watersheds began in November 1952 at WS 1,2, and 3 (60 to 100 ha), 1963 at WS 6, 7, and 8 (15 to 22 ha) 1968 at WS 9 and 10 (9 and 10 ha), 1980 at Mack Creek (580 ha), and 1949 at Lookout Creek (6242 ha). Data have been collected continuously since the start of data collection for all watersheds, with the exception of WS7, which was shut down as a cost-saving maneuver from WY1988 through WY1994. See https://andrewsforest.oregonstate.edu/research/infrastructure/watersheds for other information.
Raw instantaneous streamflow data in cubic feet per second (cfs) and mean flow at fine temporal intervals are available. Rating curves for fixed trapezoidal flumes are maintained for all small watersheds except Lookout Creek and allow calculation of mean and total flow. The USGS-maintained Lookout Creek relies on annual rating table development to reflect changes in the open channel for instantaneous flow calculation. Entity 1 includes a reconstructed history of USGS Lookout Creek hourly data beginning in 1950 and more recently 30 and 15 minute interval data. Calculated mean cfs and total flow for each watershed are available at daily (Entity 2), monthly (Entity 3), annual (Entity 4), and stream sampling (Entity 6) time intervals. An interactive program, FLOW (Entity 5), allows the user to download instantaneous, mean and total flow at requested time periods (e.g., 5 minute, 15 minute, hourly) for all watersheds except for Lookout Creek.